Speaker 1: In a truly shocking and disturbing move, the Texas attorney general is demanding
that the state's health department release a list of all transgender people in the state by asking
for a list of those who have requested changing their sex on documents. This has sparked outrage
among not only the LGBT community, but also their allies, people like me, who see it as a blatant
attack on the rights and the privacy of trans individuals. The Washington Post has a report.
Texas AG's office cites state data on trans Texans employees at the Texas Department of Public Public
Safety in June received a sweeping request from Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. His office
compile a list of individuals who changed their gender on their Texas driver's license and other
department records during the past two years. Now, why does the AG claim they need this? They say we
need this list to defend a state law that requires people to use bathrooms that correspond with the
gender on their birth certificate. But it's very obvious what this is. This is a thinly veiled
attempt to start generating a list which could be used to target. It could be used to harass trans
people. The attorney general is using this pretext of we've got to defend law and order in order to
gather information, personal information about trans people in the state. Now, I don't want to
be hyperbolic or dystopian here, but we should understand history and the right loves to talk
about camps. They say Obama is going to put you in a FEMA camp bombing or you know, they talk about
camps. They're obsessed with camps and rounding people up and all of that. We should understand,
and I'm not saying that's the direction this is going in Texas, but we should just understand
historically what have been the steps that are taken before actually putting people in camps or
overtly starting violent actions against groups of people? Like if that's what you were planning to
do, what would be on the list of things that would we would want to watch out for? And this is where
history is actually very important to understand. Historically, what you see in the lead up to an
attempt to go after a population, whether it's for discrimination or enslavement or genocide or
whatever. Right. It's a big spectrum of what one might plan to do. Here are some of the steps. And
you don't always see all of these. Incitement of hatred and violence against a group. So this can
include using propaganda to make people angry at that group. Look. Look at what the right
has been doing when it comes to trans people and trans sports and bathrooms and so-called
predators and pedophiles for years now. Okay. So use propaganda and other tactics to demonize,
dehumanize and direct anger so that hostility goes up and willingness to do violence goes up against
a particular group of people. That's happening with trans people, no doubt about it. Economic and
social discrimination. So the targeted group might be denied access to something, could be education,
could be employment, could be some other resource. This leads to being economically marginalized and
socially marginalized. Another aspect to watch out for you sometimes will see political and legal
discrimination. The targeted group might be denied some right could be the right to vote. That's not
happening with trans people. Could be to hold public office, could be just basic rights that
would typically be protected under the law. You could argue that in some ways the right is arguing
for that by saying, well, sexual orientation or gender identity should not be a protected class.
They don't want it to be. That's another aspect. And then as things escalate,
you might see systematic violence against a group. The targeted group could be subjected to physical
violence and verbal abuse that that is considered acceptable in society. And of course, in crazy,
you know, when things in instances in history that really get bad, you're talking about rape,
torture and other forms of brutality. There could be forced displacement where the targeted group is
removed from their homes or communities, either through direct violence or through policies and
practices that make it impossible for them to remain. So the big examples, of course, you've
got the Holocaust. You had forced displacement, you had legal discrimination, systematic violence,
the Armenian genocide. Another example, incitement of hatred and violence through propaganda,
economic and social discrimination, political and legal discrimination, systematic violence,
forced displacement. And I think another example that would be at the top of the
list is the Rwandan genocide, incitement of hatred and violence through propaganda.
Absolutely. Economic and social discrimination. Political and legal discrimination. Systematic
violence, forced displacement. So. We're not saying that's the plan of these right
wingers with transpeople. If they got their way. But when you start asking for lists.
Any sensible person is going to say that's a red flag. And the reason they're saying they
need that list is simply not believable. Really scary stuff happening in Texas. Are